My second try at Jupiter with the Philips SPC 900

I tried Jupiter again last night, but this time using Sharp Cap 2 to control the webcam. I used 10 fps. I got Europa just disappearing. It was pretty turbulent. I'm not sure I can get better results unless the seeing is better, but I'll keep trying.

Charles

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Yes, it obviously has the appearance of unfavorable seeing conditions. You'll find best focus very hard to achieve when there's fast turbulence, and even then it won't help the sharpness and clarity much. When you come across 4/5+ slow ripple type seeing, best focus is almost too easy.

In the event you've never come across this webpage, usually if the line contours across the various millibar maps are more spaced out, your odds of favorable seeing are good. There are occasional exceptions to that though. If you get too serious about this stuff, getting good at analyzing the model forecasts, in combination with your local area's unique factors, turns into an art form. lol Can't be more specific than that since SE Idaho has different factors, but you'll eventually see a pattern if you keep studying pages like my link in combination with your observations via the telescope.

Unfortunately, I don't see anything in the 10 day forecast that looks great for Alto, but the maps do tend to morph with every 12 hour update of the GFS model, especially the days farther out.

Started you off on the Relative Humidity map. I always had best luck on the burgundy areas with widely spaced lines, along with very slow jet stream speeds on the other millibar maps, but that won't necessarily be true in Central New Mexico. Probably true being a somewhat mountainous and arid area not near the ocean as SE Idaho is, but I can't be sure without any experience observing there.

Thanks for the tips. It's going to be pretty windy for the next several days, but I'll get out again when the weather improves. I just ordered a Bahtinov mask and am hoping that will make focusing easier.